The St. Lawrence University football team scored two touchdowns in the second half, but an early lead from 18th-ranked Endicott, powered the Gulls to a 44-13 win over the Saints in the season opener for both teams at Leckonby Stadium on Saturday.

Mark Rodeo stepped in as the Saints quarterback and passed 9-for-23 for 128 yards, while Will Lederman led the ground game with 32 yards, caught three passes for 44 yards and scored both touchdowns. Nicholas Huhtala finished with four catches and 61 yards, including a 30-yard catch.

Daniel George, Joseph O'Neill and Liam Perkins each recorded seven tackles for the Saints, while Savino Morelli finished with six, including two for the loss of seven yards. Ryan Surhoff's four tackles, included two TFL's for the loss of 10 and a sack for the loss of nine.

Battling a rainy afternoon in Canton, Endicott was able to pick up a two-point safety to score this first points of the afternoon.

The Gulls scored twice more in the opening quarter, as quarterback Clayton Marengi found Jayson Little with a 15-yard pass and Shane Aylward with an 11-yard pass just about three minutes apart. Both kicks from Ryan Smith were good, as the Gulls took a 16-0 lead after the first quarter.

Marengi extended the lead to 23-0 with a 30-yard touchdown run of his own and Little scored his second of the game with a 13-yard catch to make it 30-0.

Michael Vecchione scored with a six-yard run to end the second and scored his second on the run at 5:19 of the third, closing Endicott's scoring at 44 points.

With 39 seconds to play in the third quarter, the Saints scored their first touchdown of the afternoon. Lederman capped a 75-yard run, with a three-yard burst and Clayton Fogler's kick was good, putting the Saints on the board.

Lederman scored his second of the game with a two-yard dive with 7:48 to play in the fourth quarter making the final score 44-13.



Marengi threw 13-for-17 for 190 yards and ran for 53 yards. Adam Goodfellow, Little and Everett Knowlton each finished with three catches. Defensively, Hector Johnson and Danny Fleming finished with five tackles each and combined for 3.5 TFL's and the loss of 11 yards.

St. Lawrence converted on 3-of-5 fourth-down chances, while Endicott finished with a 26-10 advantage in first downs and converted on 8-for-12 third down opportunities.

St. Lawrence travels to Norwich for their first night game of the season, as they battle the Cadets for the Hoffman Cup on Friday, September 13 at 7 p.m.